Jejuri onwards

11. JEJURI Khandoba Temple

Jejuri is one of the famous temples in MH. Popularly known as 'Khandobachi Jejuri'.

The God of Jejuri - Mhalsakant or Malhari Martand - is popular amongst the Dhangars. Dhangar is one of the oldest tribes in MH. Khandoba is known to be their god. The temple of Khandoba is situated on a small hill.

The maintenance of this temple is extreemly bad, and needs lot of improvement.

12. MORGAON Ashta Vinayaka Temple

There is a Nandi sitting in front of this temple entrance, which is unique, as Nandi is normally in front of only Shiva temples. However, the story says that this statue was being carried to some Shivamandir during which the vehicle carrying it broke down and the Nandi statue could not be removed from its current place.

The murti of Lord Ganesha, riding a peacock, in the form of Mayureshwara is believed to have slain the demon Sindhu at this spot. The idol, with its trunk turned to the left, has a cobra (Nagaraja) poised over it protecting it.

8.00pm halt at Pune, 205kms.

12.04.09 Pune sight seeing in Auto MH12R5939 of Girish and Bharat Pawar 9850707709

13. PUNE:

At Pune, we went for sight seeing in an Auto. More details on this are described at the end of this article.

The places we saw at Pune include Phule Museum, Jangli Maharaj Mandir, Pataleshwar Caves, Shaniwar Wada, Lal Mahal, Ganesh mandir, Rajneesh Ashram, Tribal museum, War cemetery, Shindhe cemetery, Agakhan palace, Mahalaksmi temple, Bagul garden, Saras bag, Parvati temple, Kelkar museum.

Pune, is the eighth largest city in India, and the second largest in the state of MH, after Mumbai. Today, Pune is known for its educational facilities, having more than a hundred educational institutes and nine universities. It also boasts a growing industrial hinterland, with many information technology and automotive companies setting up factories in Pune.

From two-wheelers and autorickshaws ( Bajaj Auto, Kinetic Motor) to cars (Volkswagen, GM, Tata, Benz, Fiat, Peugeot) to Tractors (John Deere) to tempos and trucks (Force Motors). Automotive components (TATA Autocomp Systems Limited TACO, Visteon, Continental Corporation, ITW, SKF, Magna) are also manufactured here.

India's largest engineering conglomerate, the Kirloskar Group is based in Pune. Electronic goods are manufactured by companies such as the Whirlpool, LG Group. Food giants like Frito Lay and Coca Cola have food processing plants. Many small and medium-sized companies are also active.

Osho (known earlier as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) lived and taught in Pune for much of the 1970s and 1980s. The Osho International Meditation Resort, one of the world's largest spiritual centers, is located in the Koregaon Park area.

13.04.09 6.15am start from Pune.

14. SINGHGAD Fort
Sinhagarh was the scene of one of the most daring exploits in Maratha history when, in 1670, it was recaptured by Shivjaji’s forces under Tanaji Malusare, who laid down his life in the battle. On his death, a saddened Shivaji said, “The fort is won, but the lion is gone!” Whereupon the fort got is new name: Sinha (lion) gadha (fort). Finally the British seized the fort from the Peshwas in 1818, destroying its almost all ancient monuments. Only the traditional gates and broken walls remain now.

Near the gorge is a monument (Samadhi) commemorating the bravery of Tanaji. There is also a tiny tomb of Rajaram, Shivaji’s son, who died here in 1700. Also there are few bungalows, including that of Lokamanya Tilak.

RAJGARH FORT (Could not visit due to lack of time)

Rajgarh enjoys a unique position among the hill forts of Maharashtra. It possesses all the salient features of fort architecture, which are peculiar to the Deccan region. There are four gates called Gunjavane, Pali, Alu and Kaleshwari or Dindi gate. All the four of the fort have remains of buildings which included residential quarters, sadar or state offices, bazaar or business quarter, granary, armoury, temples, etc. The fort had ample supply of water through tanks, cisterns and wells. The water supply being better on the Padmavati machi, it was major centre of activity on the fort.

The Nizamshahi and Adilshahi rulers earlier held Rajgarh, formerly known as Murumdeo. By 1648, it was under the firm control of Shivaji, who gave it the new name Rajgarh, the king’s fort. Shivaji’s construction activities here continued till 1670. For nearly twenty-five years Rajgarh was the pre-coronation capital of Shivaji. Out of Shivaji’s short life of fifty years (18,306 days) his stay of 2827 days at Rajgarh was the longest. The fort witnessed a number of major political events of the Maratha period.

15. THEUR Ashta Vinayaka Temple

Ganesha is believed to have got back the precious Chinatamani jewel from the greedy Guna for sage Kapila at this spot. However, after bringing back the jewel, sage Kapila put it in Vinayaka's neck. Thus the name Chintamani Vinayak. This happened under the Kadamb tree, therefore Theur is known as Kadambanagar in old times. The main temple is supposed to have been built by Dharanidhar Maharaj Dev from the family-lineage of Shri Moraya Gosavi.

16. RANJANGAON Ashta Vinayaka Temple

Shiva is believed to have worshipped Ganesha before fighting the demon Tripurasura here. The temple was built by Shiva where he worshipped Ganesha, and the town he set up was called Manipur which is now known as Ranjangaon.

The temple bears a distinct resemblance to the architecture reminiscent of the 9th and 10th Centuries and faces the east.

17. OZHAR Ashta Vinayaka Temple
The history encompassing this idol states that Vighnasur, a demon was created by Indra to destroy the prayer organized by King Abhinandan. However, the demon went a step further and destroyed all vedic, religious acts. Then to answer the people's prayers for protection, Ganesha defeated him.

Then the demon begged and pleaded with Ganesha to show mercy. Ganesha then granted in his plea, but on the condition that demon should not go to the place where Ganesha worshipping is going on. In return the demon asked a favour that his name should be taken before Ganesha's name, thus the name of Ganesha became Vighnahar or Vighneshwar. The Ganesha here is called Shri Vighneshwar Vinayak.

18. LENYADRI Ashta Vinayaka Temple

This temple stands amidst a cave complex of 18 caves of Buddhist origin. These are called Ganesh-leni as well. The temple is carved out of a single stone hill, which has 307 steps. The temple features a wide hall with no supporting pillars. The temple hall is 53feet long, 51feet wide and 7feet in height.

This idol seems to be little different from the rest of the Ashtavinayak idols in a sense that it appears to be not very well designed or carved like the other idols. This idol can be worshipped by anyone.

SHIVANERI FORT – GHODEGAON
On the way from Lenyadri to Bhimashankar, on right side, we can see Shivaneri Fort. This is the place where Shivaji was born, and spent his childhood days. We saw it from the base, and din’t go to the top. It requires trekking. We were not prepared for it, there was no time, and also, it was not in our itenary.

19. SHRI BHIMASHANKAR Jyotirlinga

Bhimashankar is the temple containing one of the five jyotirlingas found in MH. Nana Fadnis, an eminent statesman of the Peshwa days, constructed the beautiful Shiva Temple at Bhimashankar. The wooden entrance of the temple is beautifully carved. Bhimashankar is endowed with beautiful scenery and an all-around vibrant atmosphere.


Besides the Shiva Temple and the dense forest surrounding it, you can also visit Gupta Bhimashankar (the origin of Bhima River), among others. However, to see this, one must be really adventuress, as there are no signboards to go to this place in the dense forest. No guides are available here.

7.50pm 27906km halt at Bhimashankar 327 kms.

14.04.09 10.00am start

20. KARLA Caves
Nestling in the hills of Lonavala, these rock-cut caves rank amongst the oldest & finest examples of Early Buddhist temple art in India. The Karla Cave, imitates the look of more familiar wooden architecture. Completed in 80 BC, the impressive structure includes a representation of the Buddha, and an aisle made up of 37 pillars and carved elephant heads, which once had real ivory tusks. Just outside Karla Caves, Ekvira Temple is visited by lot of devotees, mainly fisher folk.

21. LONAVALA (and KHANDALA) Hill Station

The twin hill resorts of Khandala and Lonavala have a special attraction for the Mumbai crowd seeking a convenient weekend holiday in the hills. A mere 3 hours by road from Mumbai, beautifully landscaped Lonavala and Khandala are famous for their seemingly innumerable varieties of chikki…. (This information is from the Internet).

There is hardly anything to see at Lonavala. The so-called viewpoints are nothing compared to Mahabaleshwar. However it is worth buying variety of Chikkis, as they are unique to this place. We also went upto Sahara Amby Valley Resorts, but could not go inside, as it is not open to visitors.

22. KHANDALA

“Aatee hai Khandaalaa ?!” goes the famous Hindi song. During April, I would say “Naheen”.

But it is a pleasure to see the NH4 and Mumbai-Pune Express Way criss-crossing each other along with Railway track at Khandala ghat. To see the view of along-side photo, we have to go in NH4, enter the Park near the Ghat section road. It is really a worth man-made viewpoint compared to natural viewpoints at Khandala & Lonavala.

23. MAHAD Ashta Vinayaka Temple
Out of eight Ashta-vinayakas, this is the only temple where devotees are allowed to personally pay their homage and respects to the idol. They are allowed in the immediate vicinity of this idol to perform their prayers.

7.50pm 28167km halt at Pali 261 kms.